Traditional owners slam selection process

A traditional owner of land identified as a possible site for a radioactive waste facility says an Aboriginal consultation process has left her feeling ostracised within her own family.

Regina McKenzie, an owner of Adnyamathanha country in South Australia's Flinders Ranges, is calling on the government to abandon its "ineffective, inappropriate and incomplete" Aboriginal cultural heritage assessment.

The Senate's Economics Reference Committee on Friday held a public hearing at Hawker, where Ms McKenzie is a resident, after a similar event on Thursday at Kimba, on the Eyre Peninsula.

Both towns have been earmarked as possible sites for the federal government's National Radioactive Waste Management Project, which will initially store low and medium-level waste before a second centre is opened for medium-level material.

The Senate inquiry is focusing on the site selection process, which Ms McKenzie says has alienated culturally appropriate people from participation.